Nation Branding: The Case for Marketing Strategy in International Relations

This thesis seeks to address the concept of nation branding and how states can use marketing strategies for international relations gains. Using a literature review of relevant concepts and trends in international relations, including soft power, public diplomacy, and cultural diffusion, the connection between marketing strategies and foreign policy trends become clear. An analysis of nation branding, its origins, applications, and challenges, provides insight into an up-and-coming area of international relations. Specific country case studies were chosen to examine the real-world results of nation branding including the shortcomings and future opportunities. The case of Japan shows how a country can leverage their culture to build a strong nation brand and the economic benefits of ‘pop culture diplomacy.’ Russia was chosen as an example of a country that has struggled to overcome a negative nation brand and how the state, prior to recent events, had attempted to rebrand. Russia can also demonstrate how quickly any progress in a nation’s reputation abroad can be lost. Lastly, the case of China is used to provide an example of a country that has been very upfront in communicating plans for building soft power and public diplomacy. The Chinese government’s commitment to economic development with the Belt and Road Initiative and academic partnerships through Confucius Institutes provide concrete examples of how nation branding policies can be tailored to fit a state’s specific goals

An Assessment of the Hospitalization Rates and Associated Comorbid Conditions in Secondary Stroke Prevention

Introduction: An inherent risk from an incident stroke is recurrence. The most effective method to reduce stroke risk is to reduce the incidence of hypertension. Thus, antihypertension therapy has become imperative in the prevention of primary and recurrent stroke. In this dissertation we examine the confounding effects of race and age on recurrent stroke risk and the consistency of secondary prevention treatment regimens. Methods: One-year recurrent stroke risk was determined in relation to race, age, gender, and comorbid hypertension and diabetes by mixed effects regression and Kaplan-Meier survival analyses among hospitalized patients in South Carolina. A subset of patients were used to estimate race- and age-specific rate ratios for stroke incidence and recurrence based on symptomatic and asymptomatic discharge diagnoses modifier code selection. A hospital-based subset of stroke survivors was surveyed via structured telephone interviews to determine predictors of antihypertensive regimen persistence from hospital discharge to one-year by logistic regression analyses. Results: One-year recurrent stroke was identified in 11.3% of hospitalized patients with highest rates among African Americans, patients age 45-64 years, and patients with diabetes. The magnitude of the racial disparity rate ratios for both stroke incidence and recurrence was significantly higher when only symptomatic stroke diagnoses were considered. Advanced age, comorbidity, uncontrolled blood pressure (≥140/90 mmHg), premorbid antihypertensive therapy, and receipt of antilipidemics or antithrombotics were significantly associated with receipt of antihypertensive therapy at discharge. Within one-year post stroke hospitalization, 87% of the treated patients remained on some type of antihypertensive therapy, while only 39% were persistent on the same regimens. African Americans and comorbid conditions were inversely associated with persistence on antihypertension therapy. Conclusions: The results of this study identified one-year recurrent stroke impacting one in ten stroke survivors. Further, younger age, African American race, and prevalent diabetes significantly increases recurrent stroke risk and emerge as factors to consider in risk-reduction strategies. Persistence on antihypertensive regimen one-year post discharge was significantly lower for certain medication classes, African Americans, and patients with high comorbidities. Recurrent stroke risk for these high risk groups could be reduced by understanding the effects of race and comorbid conditions on medication persistence

Radio experiments with fire

Copyright © 2008 IEEE – All Rights ReservedRadio communication has become an important tool to aid in combatting wildfire. In this letter, we consider the effect of fire upon radio propagation. Results are presented of broadband radio propagation measurements involving three small-scale fire experiments. Measurements reveal that particular frequency bands are affected by fire, being attenuated when fire is present. Ionization, present in the flames, is identified as the major cause of attenuation on radio propagation.Jonathan Boa

Dall Sheep Demographics: A Peek at Intrinsic and Extrinsic Effects

Understanding population demographics requires an understanding of a multitude of factors, both extrinsic and intrinsic, that are important for reproduction, recruitment, and survival Nonetheless, physiological mechanisms underpinning reproduction, recruitment, and survival are often overlooked and only recently are being addressed to understand the root cause of demographic trends. In wildlife populations, fitness is measured in terms of reproductive success which is often manifested in population growth. Concerns arise when population counts reveal a declining trend without apparent cause. In south central Alaska, anecdotal evidence based on flight surveys of Dall sheep suggested a population decline since the mid-1990s. This population decline is what prompted our study. Dall sheep are an important source of revenue in the state of Alaska for both consumptive and non-consumptive use, however little research has been done on Dall sheep populations in south central Alaska over the last 25 years. Reviewing flight survey data between 1976 and 2013 in game management unit 14C (GMU 14C) suggested an increase in Dall sheep populations, peaking in 1996, and then a gradual decline. My objective was to determine potential extrinsic causalities for the population trend and link physiological health with expressed trends in pregnancy rates. In chapter 1, I focused on one game management unit (GMU 14C) in south central Alaska and in chapter 2, I studied 2 game management units (GMU 14C and GMU 13D) in south central Alaska. Both chapters involved capture work in 2012 and 2013. Pregnancy, parturition, and survival rates were evaluated through capture work done in GMU 14C and GMU 13D. Adult female Dall sheep were captured between mid-March and mid-April and fitted with VHF radio collars. We collected blood samples, hair samples (2013 only), assessed body condition, and determined age. Pregnancy was determined from blood collected from captured individuals. During parturition from early May to mid-June, collared females were monitored by air to observe neonates. Neonates were captured on foot, fitted with VHF radio collars, weighed, and sex and age were determined. Both collared adults and juveniles were monitored throughout the duration of the study to determine survival and cause of mortality. In chapter 1, I investigated specific demographic trends on pregnancy, parturition, and adult and juvenile survival rates and the relationship between extrinsic variables (weather and plant productivity) and reproductive output in GMU 14C. Pregnancy, parturition, and survival rates were determined from capture work in 2012 and 2013. Cause of mortality for both adults and juveniles was determined from field work. I used juvenile to adult female (age) ratios from flight survey data as an indicator of reproductive output. I used growing season length, onset, precipitation, length of winter, cumulated snowfall, and winter temperature variance to predict reproductive output. I used normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data, an indicator of plant productivity, to detect relationships between plant productivity variables and reproductive output. Pregnancy rates were 0.45 and 0.93 in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Parturition rates were 0.73 and 0.64 in 2012 and 2013, respectively and survival rates were 0.91 and 0.73 in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Leading causes of adult mortality were 40% avalanche and 40% predation. Juvenile survival rates were 0.59 and 0.44 in 2012 and 2013 respectively. The leading cause of mortality (79%) was predation. Late onset of the growing season and winter length had negative effects on reproductive output (i.e. fewer young relative to females). There was marginal support for growing season length (positive) and cumulative snowfall (negative). There was also marginal support for the effects of NDVI variables growth onset (negative), peak NDVI (positive), and peak date (positive) on reproductive output. In chapter 2, I investigated relationships between physiological health and reproduction. I was specifically interested in how reproductive efforts affect components of immune function and how cortisol levels, and indicator of chronic stress, affect reproduction. I focused on the constitutive branch of the immune system - specifically bacteria killing ability and the inflammatory response. Bacteria killing ability was evaluated using the bacteria killing assay. I used haptoglobin levels to evaluate the inflammatory response using a haptoglobin assay. Cortisol was quantified from the hair samples collected in 2013. I did not detect an effect of pregnancy on bacteria killing ability to inflammatory response in the 2012 data. Nonetheless, when pregnancy status was paired with study site, there was a negative effect on bacteria killing ability in 2013; however study site was the main driver of that equation. Study site was also the predictor variable for inflammatory response in 2013. These results suggest extrinsic factors are playing a greater role in constitutive immunocompetence. I observed no relationship between cortisol and pregnancy; however I observed marginal support for a negative relationship between maternal cortisol and birth weights of neonates. Understanding demographic processes is critical to set appropriate harvest regulations or to pinpoint where restoration efforts would be most effective. I demonstrated the ability to detect relationships between weather and reproductive output using survey data. Study site was the best predictor variable for immunocompetence, indicating external pressures, such as weather, forage availability, or pathogen presence, likely influenced physiological functions. Physiological health is traditionally viewed in terms of pregnancy and survival rates but those metrics do not describe mechanisms underpinning changes in population demographics. Understanding the role of cortisol and immune function can help answer questions regarding population trends. Applying modern analytical methods to historic and current data can inform comparisons with current and future datasets, and improve understanding of contemporary demographic trends

An Assessment of Noninvasive Measurements of Arterial Compliance

Arterial stiffness is considered both a risk factor and indicator of cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations of cardiovascular risk indicators of arterial compliance among 226 black and white individuals enrolled in an outpatient clinical setting. Data were collected by survey and examination with a computerized arterial pulse waveform analyzer. Arterial stiffness was estimated by indirect estimates of small artery and large artery compliance, as well as pulse pressure. After adjustments for age, race, and gender, logistic regression identified hypertension, end organ damage, and overweight as the strongest predictors for the three arterial stiffness indices. The results of this study identified similar factors associated with each of the different noninvasive measures of arterial stiffness

Women's aspirations for the high school principalship: a heuristic phenomenological inquiry

Title from PDF of title page viewed January 10, 2020Dissertation advisor: Loyce CaruthersVitaIncludes bibliographical references (page 212-229)Thesis (Ed.D.)--School of Education. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2019In the United States the teaching profession is primarily comprised of female teachers. However, men continually hold a disproportionality large percentage of the high school principalships. This qualitative study explores the experiences women in a Midwestern metropolitan area encounter in their professional and personal lives, and how those experiences inform their aspirations regarding their procuring and holding the principalship. An internet survey was completed by 68 female participants, and from there eight co-researchers were chosen to represent a continuum of work experience and became co-researchers in the exploration. Through demographic data collection, narrative writing, and in-depth interviews, the essence of meaning women make of their experiences was explored.Introduction -- Review of the literature -- Methodology -- Findings -- Implications and recommendations -- Appendix A. Phase One Internet Survey -- appendix B. Interview Protocol -- Appendix C. Survey result

Black Hole Entropy from Quantum Mechanics

We provide evidence for a holographic duality between superconformal quantum mechanics on the moduli space of Yang-Mills instantons and M-theory in certain asymptotically $AdS_{7}\times S^{4}$ backgrounds with a plane-wave boundary metric. We show that the gravitational background admits a supersymmetric black hole solution whose entropy is precisely reproduced by the superconformal index of the dual quantum mechanics

Boundaries & Localisation with a Topological Twist

We study the partition functions of topologically twisted 3d $\mathcal{N}=2$ gauge theories on a hemisphere spacetime with boundary $HS^2 \times S^1$. We show that the partition function may be localised to either the Higgs branch or the Coulomb branch where the contributions to the path integral are vortex or monopole configurations respectively. Turning to $\mathcal{N}=4$ supersymmetry, we consider partition functions for exceptional Dirichlet boundary conditions that yield a complete set of `IR holomorphic blocks'. We demonstrate that these correspond to vertex functions: equivariant Euler characteristics of quasimap moduli spaces. In this context, we explore the geometric interpretation of both the Higgs and Coulomb branch localisation schemes in terms of the enumerative geometry of quasimaps and discuss the action of mirror symmetry.Comment: 44 pages, 2 figures. Comments welcom